Shea shook his head silently. His father nodded in satisfaction.

“No, because I happen to believe that a man’s business is mostly his own affair. But I cannot forget that the last time you disappeared from the Vale was right after that other stranger appeared asking for you.”

“Other stranger!” the brothers exclaimed together.

Instantly all the old memories came back to them-Allanon’s mysterious appearance, Balinor’s warning, the Skull Bearers, the running, the fear… Shea slid down from his stool slowly.

“There’s someone here… looking for me?”

His father nodded, his broad face clouding darkly as he caught the look of concern mirrored in his son’s furtive glance at the doorway.

“A stranger, like before. He got in several minutes ago, looking for you. He’s waiting out in the lobby. But I don’t see…”

“Shea, what can we do?” Flick interrupted hurriedly. “We don’t even have the Elfstones to protect us anymore.”

“I… I don’t know,” his brother mumbled, desperately trying to think through his confusion. “We could slip out the back way…”

“Now wait a minute!” Curzad Ohmsford had heard enough. He gripped their shoulders tightly and turned them about to face him, staring at them in disbelief.

“I did not raise my sons to run away from trouble.” He studied their worried faces a moment and shook his head. “You must learn to face your problems, not run from them. Why, here you are in your own home, among family and friends who will stand by you, and you talk about running away.”

He released them and stepped back a pace.

“Now we’ll all go out there together and face this man. He looks a hard sort, but he seemed friendly enough when we talked. Besides, I don’t think a one-handed man is any kind of a match physically for three whole men-even with that pike.”

Shea started abruptly.

“One-handed…?”

“He looks like he traveled a long way to get here.” The elder Ohmsford did not seem to have heard him. “He’s carrying a little leather pouch that he claims belongs to you. I offered to take it, but he wouldn’t give it to me. Said he wouldn’t give it to anyone but you.”

Now suddenly Flick understood.

“It must be something important,” his father declared. “He told me you dropped it on your way home. Now how could that happen?”

Curzad Ohmsford had to wait awhile longer for his answer. In a rush, his sons were past him, through the kitchen door, and halfway down the hallway to the lobby of the inn.

REVISION HISTORY

v2.0 wg

conversion to standard HTML format

added chapter links